July
20 - First stage for man and country, Astana &
Vino back on track, Hincapie comments on Astana move, Evans hones in on TT,
No chasse-patate for Millar, Stage 11 post-race quotes, Schleck owes
one to Arvesen

July 18
- Demol Disco boys on the attack, Soler solos to special win, Riders reflect
on a memorable day, O'Grady on his accident, Carlström keeping a low profile,
Quickstep's Barredo waiting for Spanish run, Penalties all around

July
15 - Seven a lucky number for T-Mobile, Valverde
wants to drop Vino, Popovych has freedom, How the Australians fared, More
Tour reactions, Bottom drops out for Freire, Nuyens making it through Tour

Recently on Cyclingnews.com

94th Tour de France - ProT

France, July 7-29, 2007

Stage 5 - Thursday, July 12: Chablis - Autun, 182.5km

Complete live report

Good morning and welcome back to Cyclingnews' live coverage of
Le Tour. After the sprinters had their day of fun in Joigny yesterday, they'll
find the going a little bit tougher on the 182.5 km journey from Chablis to
Autun.

Stage 5 contains some serious racing on a winding, rolling parcours with
eight categorized climbs. A break will certainly get away and in the second
half of the stage, the road ascends to the windy roads of Morvan Plateau before
a final ascent of the Cat. 3 Côte de la Croix de la Libération with eight kilometres
to race, which could make the difference for the race winning move.

13:04 CEST After quite a cool morning in Chablis,
a winter-like 6 degrees that would have been a great temperature to keep that
crisp white wine out on the porch to chill, the sun came out and warmed the
temperatures to the mid-teens. It should be close to 20 degrees for the riders
today.

13:09 CEST Stéphane Augé (Cofidis) holds a slim
lead in the polka dot jersey competition. He has a two point lead over David
Millar (Saunier Duval) and his own team-mate Sylvain Chavanel. There are eight
categorised climbs today, so we will definitely see some changes in that competition
today.

13:10 CEST There was a major shakeup in the
points classification, thanks to the Norwegian thunder, Thor Hushovd, winning
his first race since the Vuelta last year. Hushovd jumped from tenth to
fifth in the green jersey competition on stage four, making up for some of the
disappointment when he lost points in stage two. He and many others had to watch
his competitors on the video screen after being held up behind the mass crash.
He has now 79 points to Boonen's 98.

Robbie McEwen (84 points) is
still handicapped after his stage one crash, and had to concede second place
to Erik Zabel, who is two points ahead of the Australian, and is dreaming of
an unprecedented seventh Maillot Vert. Robbie Hunter from Barloworld
moved up to fourth with 81 points, while French sprinting wonder Romain Feillu
(57 points) is down to tenth now.

13:12 CEST The riders rolled out from Chablis
and reached the end of the neutral zone at 12:56, and are currently rolling
along gruppo compatto.

13:15 CEST 8km/174.5km to go The riders' first
bit of excitement today will be the intermediate sprint in Avallon at km 36,
and they'll quickly hit the first KOM 3.5km later for a 1.5 kilometre long climb
with an average of 6.7% on the Côte des Grandes-Châtelaines.

13:15 CEST Thor Hushovd also moved up to second
overall, thanks to his time bonus, and is now 29 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara.
Hushovd, who is a decent time trialer, had the goal to get the yellow, but his
hopes were dashed by the tremendous ride of Swiss Fabian Cancellara in the prologue
and the crash in stage two, that prevented mighty Thor from participating in
the sprint.

He said yesterday that today's stage will be very hard,
with its many climbs, but after losing hope early on he at least sees a chance
to take yellow again before the mountains.

13:16 CEST Stéphane Augé (Cofidis) attacked
at kilometre 8, but was quickly reeled in by the peloton.

13:21 CEST Jens Voigt is rather infamous for
his relentless attacking, but has had to control himself so far this Tour since
he's been working to defend the yellow jersey since day one. When asked yesterday
by John Trevorrow if he'd get a chance to make his mark on this Tour, he replied,
"That was not the plan today. We have had to do a bit of work in defending the
jersey with Fabian. But it's basically the same as usual, a break goes away,
we ride on the front and then it's a bunch kick. Today's plan was to just defend
the jersey. Now it's all for Fabian and then in the Alps Frank and Carlos and,
maybe, after the Alps I will have a chance, and in the last week maybe Stuey.
So we are looking forward to some great racing. "

13:26 CEST Sylvain Chavanel attacked 13.5km
into the stage - it looks like Cofidis really wants keep that red and white
polka dot jersey in their hands. He opened up a small gap, but today's pace
is a bit faster than previous days. It's a perfect day for a breakaway to have
a chance today with the category two Haut Folin coming just 47km from the finish.

13:28 CEST Leif Hoste (Predictor-Lotto) and
Inaki Isasi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) tried to bridge up to Chavanel, but the peloton
was right on them and now they're all back together.

Current situation

Gruppo compatto

13:34 CEST Today's parcours is the hilliest
of the non-mountain stages, and while it's not a day for the pure climbers,
it will favour the aggressive take-no-prisoner style of riders like Andrey Kashechkin,
Alessandro Ballan or maybe even Frenchman Thomas Voeckler.

13:37 CEST We have our first break of the day
- Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), William Bonnet (Crédit Agricole) and Philippe
Gilbert (Française des Jeux) are leading Giampaolo Cheula (Barloworld) about
1'00 ahead of the peloton.

13:40 CEST 24km/158.5km to go The three riders
up front escaped 19km into the stage, and have now opened up a 1'45 gap on the
field. The chasing man from Barloworld is having a hard time getting on terms,
and is lagging by 55" behind the breakaway - smack in the middle of 'no man's
land'.

13:43 CEST 26km/156.5km to go The race is 10km
from the first intermediate sprint in Avallon, and the leaders have opened up
an advantage of 2'50 on the peloton. Cheula is still in no man's land.

13:48 CEST The peloton will most likely let
a break go today, with CSC hinting that they might let the jersey go today.
The CSC team had to work hard to control the breakaway on stage four, and while
they got a bit of help toward the end from other teams working for a bunch sprint,
they had to fight the wind for much of the day.

Cyclingnews'
John Trevorrow spoke with Stuart O'Grady, who described yesterday's stage, saying
"Thor Hushovd is now within striking distance of the jersey, so maybe we will
look at handing it on sooner rather than later. Defending the yellow jersey
is very draining on any team and we have had a great five days in the golden
fleece. But we do have another agenda, and that’s to win this bloody race. "

13:50 CEST It looks as if O'Grady was right,
since the bunch has let this escape go. Poor Cheula isn't making any ground
on the leaders, but is still working to stay 1'50 ahead of the peloton.

13:52 CEST O'Grady will be happy to take a back
seat to an opportunistic team today - perhaps the Crédit Agricole team of Hushovd.
Stage four was a bit taxing for the team, he described, "At least it was a lot
better than yesterday [stage three] where we went from striving to save the
yellow jersey to the euphoria of winning the stage. Today [stage four] we didn't
wait so much on the sprinters teams, we simply put the hammer down and kept
the speed up ourselves. The wind did not abate, but neither did we. A total
contrast to yesterday."

13:59 CEST Last year's Maillot Vert isn't
having the best of luck in this year's Tour since he won stage one in Canterbury.
He crashed before winning that stage, and sustained a gash on stage two as he
narrowly avoided the huge crash in Gent. After stage four, he told John Trevorrow
that his sprint was ruined again in Joigny. "I wanted to make a run on the left
hand side but two guys came together and nearly crashed themselves," he described.
"Something flew off somewhere and cut my arm (again) and one Agritubel guy lost
control and was all over the place. I needed to get up on the left but there
was just no where to go. And when I did get a run the guys on the front swung
across and blocked my run again. There was almost another crash and I hit the
wheel of one guy."

14:01 CEST 39km/143.5km to go The riders rolled
through the first sprint in Avallon, with Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux)
taking first ahead of William Bonnet (Crédit Agricole) and virtual maillot jaune
Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis).

14:01 CEST Mark Cavendish of T-Mobile said this
morning that he is feeling much better physically, following his crash in stage
two. He revealed that yesterday was the worst, which is "often the case, two
days after a crash." But things are getting better and he was very happy with
the team, who "gave one hundred percent." Cavendish loved Eisel's lead-out,
but "we were just too far back."

14:04 CEST 40km/142.5km to go Just after the
first sprint came the first climb of the day, and it was Chavanel who took over
the polka dot jersey competition from his team-mate Augé by winning the category
4 hill ahead of Gilbert and Bonnet.

14:06 CEST Chavanel now leads his team-mate
by one point in the climber's classification.

As the riders leave
the first climb and head toward the second one 13km away, they're heading south
out of the start town of Chablis.

Chablis is the cradle of a very
ancient vineyard covering over 10,000 acres and comprising four grape varieties:
Petit-Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premiers Crus, and 7
Chablis Grands Crus, an important asset in the land of wine.

Chablis is also blessed with a wealth of architectural wonders: The St Martin
collegiate church is among the more visible ones, but there are also smaller
treasures, like the Hôtel Dieu (God hotel) that was converted into a
hotel and restaurant and has the infamous Michelin stars to its credit.

14:09 CEST It looks like the peloton might have
stopped for some of that nice wine - or maybe some of the other culinary delights
of this area such as the Chablis andouillette (pork bladder stuffed with
all sorts of rather unspeakable 'goodies') and pastries such as the Chablisien
or the Duché. And of course chocolate can't be missing on a cyclist's
menu, so they could be enjoying some Pilier de Chablis.

They
have let the breakaway get nearly nine minutes.

Current situation

14:13 CEST With the race averaging a light tempo
of 38.7km/h, it doesn't look like anyone has stepped up to try to receive the
yellow jersey from CSC. If the situation stays the way it is now, it will be
Sylvain Chavanel of the Cofidis team who will take over the Maillot Jaune.
He started the day 7th overall, 44" behind Cancellara.

14:15 CEST Discovery Channel's George Hincapie
is expecting a break for sure and said before the start that "We will try to
send someone with a break." He acknowledged that for him personally a break
would be a waste of energy, considering his overall standing, where he is currently
in fifth.

14:16 CEST The last time the Tour de France
finished in Autun, it was won from a much larger breakaway than we have today.
Magnus Backstedt stage
19 to Autun in 1998.

He became the first Swede to win a Tour
stage when he made a break of 13, and hung on when the group split with 20km
to go. His win was made a bit controversial when Backstedt declined to put in
his share of work because he had his Australian sprinter Stuart O'Grady lurking
in the second group behind. The Swede, in his third year as a pro, was able
to out-kick Rabobank's Maarten Den Bakker and Saeco's Eddy Mazzoleni to win.

Current situation

14:24 CEST The race bible marks the dangerous
points in the route, but for today it didn't even bother to mark the exact locations,
just saying there are 26 things hazardous stretches. Those include roundabouts,
dividers, narrow roads, speed bumps and other obstacles generally not suited
for bicycles at high speeds.

14:31 CEST The three leaders are working well
together, but where is poor Cheula? He was last seen in no man's land about
three minutes ahead of the peloton, stubbornly trying to get up to the trio
but lagging by close to seven minutes.

Sunny skies, a bit of a breeze
and cool temperatures are par for the course today.

14:32 CEST Andrey Kashechkin, the Kazakh of
Astana, received the good news that he became a father during the Tour de France.
But he wasn't the only one who received happy
news. A string of bicycle-related babies recently born will make sure we
will have Tours in a couple of decades from now.

14:38 CEST 61.5km/121km to go Cheula, our lost
man from Barloworld, was actually working his way up to the leaders. Lost from
the cameras in the trees, he emerged just behind the break of three at the second
climb of the day 30 seconds in arrears as Chavanel took the points over Gilbert
and Bonnet again.

Cheula caught up just after the top of the hill,
and now we have four men out front.

14:40 CEST Liquigas and Rabobank are currently
leading the peloton at a slightly brisker pace, which means the lead is currently
constantly dropping. At the moment it is 12'15".

14:43 CEST The peloton is reaching the cat 3
climb and it is Discovery and Astana on the front as well. A few teams have
decided that 14 minutes is more than enough and the field is strung out as they
go uphill.

14:46 CEST Cheula's bridge to the trio wasn't
quite as heroic as we stated earlier. Lost to our commentators for a bit, he
trailed the leaders by just over a minute for much of the early part of the
stage, and joined them after the category three and third climb of the day,
the Champignolles-di-Bas.

14:51 CEST 68.5km/114km to go The leaders are
now just 10'27 ahead and the gap is dropping under pressure from Milram, Liquigas
and Caisse d'Epargne, who has amassed most of their team at the front of the
peloton. Astana now puts a man on the front, and he's got a Discovery Channel
man behind to take over.

14:56 CEST 70.5km/112km to go Somewhere back
around the 52.5 kilometre mark there was a little category four speed bump called
the Domecy-Sur-Cure, which our leaders effortlessly spun up in the order: Chavanel,
Gilbert, Bonnet.

They're 9'48 up on the peloton now, which is going
through the a lovely Nature Park. The terrain, belied by the eight categorised
climbs today, is decidedly rolling. Some horses are taking shade under the wind
break between the fields, and don't even raise their snouts from grazing to
watch the race pass by.

14:58 CEST 72.5km/110km to go The breakaway is
passing through Lormes to the cheers of a few hundred spectators, and Chavanel
takes the front to keep the tempo high through the narrow village streets.

Current situation

15:03 CEST Gerolsteiner is pushing hard along
with Caisse d'Epargne on the front of the chasing peloton. They may be working
for Stefan Schumacher, winner of this year's Amstel
Gold race. The finish in Autun is not quite as difficult as the Cauberg,
but the last climb with 8.5km to go is a category three (3.4km long at 5.4%)
and the finish line is a bit of a climb, too. Perfect for Schumacher.

15:04 CEST The directeur sportif of Bouygues
Telecom mentions in a live feed from the team car that his riders don't have
to be at the front for the moment as other squads have more of an interest to
bring back the break. He will not confirm the rumours that Pierrick Fédrigo
is going to Ag2r, but says that "Pierrick is at the end of his contract and
it is normal that he would look for options."

15:09 CEST 81.5km/101km to go The lead quartet
is 5km from the 4th climb, the Coulon - just a category four one kilometre long
hill. They still enjoy more than eight minutes on the chasing peloton, but their
advantage is steadily falling.

15:13 CEST We've just gotten word that Australian
Brett Lancaster (Milram) has retired. A sad time for the man who started the
Tour with stomach issues, crashed, and the told Cyclingnews' John Trevorrow
that he was also suffering from a saddle sore.

15:15 CEST 86.5km/96km to go The break heads
up the Coulon with 7'28 on the field, and the grade looks pretty steep in parts.
They're all out of the saddle and in the small ring. Chavanel leads with Gilbert
behind - and then Bonnet again. Cheulu gets no points for the category 4 climb.

15:18 CEST 88.5km/94km to go The peloton was
heading through a village and on a sharp turn there was a crash in the peloton.
Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval) went down - he's OK, but five guys have come back
for him. They're in sight of the rear of the peloton and not in a panic. Ruben
Lobato takes this opportunity to get a bottle from the team car. Three more
riders from the team came back for Mayo indicating his is a protected rider
for this Tour.

15:20 CEST 89.5km/93km to go The entire Saunier
Duval team is doing a team time trial to get Mayo back into the fold, but on
the front, hard work is still being done by Gerolsteiner and now Rabobank. It
will be a bit of an effort for the lemon yellow boys, but they're in the cars
now.

15:22 CEST 91.5km/91km to go Mayo and his boys
make it to the back, but Christophe Moreau is back in the following cars - he's
had to stop either because of that crash or a mechanical (or maybe even the
call of nature?) and he's chasing back to the peloton now. A team-mate finally
comes back for him.

15:23 CEST Belgian Philippe Gilbert is in the
break. He is a very aggressive rider and had a good showing in Milan-San Remo,
where he was in a break with Riccardo Riccò on the Poggio. He also got third
recently in the Belgian National Championships.

15:24 CEST 93km/89.5km to go José Luis Arrieta
has come back for his captain, and it looks like they'll make it back on. They're
heading into the second sprint of the day at 88km now - just under 2km for the
leaders.

15:28 CEST The second sprint of the day Montreuillon
is taken by Bonnet, in front of Gilbert and Chavanel. In the back the domestiques
are getting bottles from the cars and some riders are answering the call of
nature. Saunier Duval is still at the back of the peloton and catching their
breath after the high speed chase.

15:31 CEST 96.5km/86km to go The leaders are
on the Saint-Maurice climb, the category three is 3km long and is slowing the
four men down quite a bit. Sylvain Chavanel dropped back to the cars for a moment
holding his knee. He's been off the front two days in a row, and it's understandable
that his legs would hurt a bit, but we'll hope this is nothing serious.

15:35 CEST The peloton passes under a bridge
that is in the style of the ancient Roman aqueducts - but is really quite a
bit more modern. This area is known for its Roman ruins, and the finishing town
of Autun is no exception.

Autun was founded at the end of the 1st
century AD by the Emperor Augustus, and lies between the wooded hills of the
Autunois region and the Morvan. It has more than 20,000 residents.

The town is famous for the Cathedral of St. Lazare - a 12th Century cathedral
with Roman influence on the inside and a bit of tacked on Gothic architecture
on the outside. The St. Lazare cathedral touts some of the most famous works
of the sculptor Gislebertus, including the Temptation of Eve.

15:36 CEST 98.5km/84km to go At the top of the
St. Maurice, it's once more Chavanel, who has taken all the climbs so far, ahead
of Gilbert, who has been second on them all and Bonnet. There must be an agreement
in the breakaway because they didn't have to work to come across in that order.
Cheula is lucky that this is a category three because that means he'll get one
point for his efforts.

15:40 CEST Today's finish in Autun could very
well come down to a sprint, but it will be unlikely that the entire peloton
will be together. With a big hill inside the last 10km, we'll see the strong
men splitting off to battle it out like gladiators.

15:43 CEST CSC has put a man on the front of
the peloton just in case they can keep Cancellara in yellow. They're not spending
too much energy, and are getting plenty of help from Gerolsteiner for Schumi,
Liquigas for their man Pozatto, and Astana who could be hoping to launch Vinokourov
to victory today.

The boys in bright teal blue have a few danger
men in their roster. Kashechkin could escape, or perhaps even Iglinsky. All
these men won stages in the Dauphine.

15:45 CEST Rather, Kashechkin wore the leader's
jersey but place second on the stage to Vinokourov.

15:50 CEST 108.5km/74km to go Caisse d'Epargne
has men chasing now, and could be working for the Spanish champion José Ivan
Gutierrez. He's won the Tour Méditerranéen already this year.

The
breakaway is coming up on the feed zone in a few kilometres, but Gilbert is
already having a snack - an appetizer perhaps.

15:52 CEST Crash! Astana has two men in the
ditch. It's Daniel Navarro (Astana) and Kloden!

15:53 CEST Klöden has only Navarro with him
now as they fall well behind the peloton. The Liquigas car passes the pair to
get back into its position in the following convoy.

15:56 CEST Paolo Savoldelli comes back to help
Klöden get back on. It looked like Klöden was not paying attention and just
rolled off the narrow road. He didn't have much room for error as there was
a knee-high dip right next to the pavement. It's a bit tight here as they head
up toward the feed zone in Saint-Gy.

15:59 CEST 113.5km/69km to go Klöden is close
to being back on, but stops at the race doctor's car to get some treatment for
his left side. The breakaway is in the feed zone up ahead with 3'44 on the field.
It's lunch time now, and they're digging into their bags. Chavanel doesn't want
that energy bar - wrong flavour - and he flings it to the ground.

16:02 CEST They've left the dense forests behind
them now and are on a high ridge reminiscent of the Sierra Grade stage of Tour
of California (except a dense green and not the brown colour of the landscape
outside San Jose).

16:03 CEST 116.5km/66km to go The peloton is
in the feedzone now, just 3'36 behind our fearless leaders. They'll need to
eat quickly because the next climb starts just under 4km from here.

16:04 CEST Another crash! Geoffroy Lequatre
(Cofidis) has a yard sale going on - his feedbag emptied all over the road.
He's holding his right arm and appears to be in a good deal of pain.

16:05 CEST Lequatre apparently got someone else's
feedbag caught in his wheel, and he doesn't look good. He dropped to the ground
in pain.

16:09 CEST 118.5km/64km to go The breakaway is
heading up to the top of the third to last climb, the category four Côte de
Château-Chinon - and Chavanel sees the banner and powers ahead of his three
companions. Gilbert and Bonnet are second and third again.

Chavanel
has swept all the mountain points in this stage. His team-mate Geoffroy Lequatre
is still receiving medical attention.

Current situation

16:13 CEST 123.5km/59km to go Today's stage isn't
that much faster than stage three, the long slow 236.5 kilometre death march
that crawled along behind the break of Nicolas Vogondy and Mathieu Ladagnous.
They've averaged just over 36km/h so far today.

Stuart O'Grady offered
a different perspective on the day - which many viewed as a sort of protest
against the organisers on part of the peloton due to the length of the stage.
O'Grady explained, "I've never seen anything quite like it in my life. There
we were, just cruising along, hour after hour, no one attacking, waiting for
some one to take charge. It was as though the sprinters teams lacked faith in
the leaders. Sure, the two boys out front weren't doing much but who can blame
them. It was when the two fresh riders joined them that the race really came
alive."

16:14 CEST The riders are not the only ones
crashing during the Tour de France. In the heat of the action the team cars
getting super-close to each other - sometimes too close. Liquigas and Française
Des Jeux had an encounter with each other yesterday.

16:17 CEST 125.5km/57km to go Just as in the
previous stages, American Christian Vande Velde (CSC) is doing quite a bit of
work up front. Unlike previous stages, he has plenty of help from other teams.
The yellow jersey of Cancellara has moved up to 8th wheel.

The four
men up front are doing equal shares of work and are on the lower slopes of the
Haut-Folin. This climb is 13km long, and Gilbert was encouraging his three friends
to keep pushing - to believe that they can stay away up this category three
climb. It only averages 3.7% so they're all big-ringing the hill and doing their
best to have faith.

16:22 CEST 127.5km/55km to go Cheula goes back
to his team car for a chat - maybe trying to get some words of wisdom or some
sympathy... it's not looking good for the four men as the gap is just 2'37.

16:23 CEST Not again! A load of riders have
to hit the brakes and come to a standstill in the peloton. It's just David Arroyo
(Caisse d'Epargne) getting a sudden flat - everyone stays upright, but Arroyo
is all on his own chasing after his wheel change.

16:24 CEST Sylvain Chavanel would not say before
the start of today's stage that an objective for him is to carry the Maillot
à Pois of the best climber into Paris. He stated that he rather wants
his legs to do the talking. And his legs are chatting away today, as he took
all the mountain points so far. Asked about the tactics for the Polka-dot Jersey,
he said it has to be done like Richard Virenque did it. Just getting as many
points as possible on the first category and hors category climbs.

16:25 CEST The peloton is heading up the hill,
bringing the gap down quickly to 2'23. Caisse d'Epargne's man up front doesn't
let off the gas to allow his teammate Arroyo to get on easier. In fact, another
man from that team comes up - perhaps just to let him know about the situation.

Barloworld has a few men near the front and could be scheming to launch a counter-attack
as the break gets nearer.

16:29 CEST 129.5km/53km to go The breakaway is
halfway up the climb and have lost another minute to the field - just 1'25 right
now and the fireworks will begin soon! Chavanel and Gilbert have left Bonnet
and Cheula behind.

16:30 CEST Thor Hushovd is off the back of the
field having trouble with this hill. He's not a great climber, but this is a
bit early to head into the autobus for yesterday's stage winner. He's got his
team car next to him egging him on.

16:32 CEST 132.5km/50km to go Anthony Charteau
(Crédit Agricole) has come back for Hushovd. Gilbert and Chavanel are forging
ahead up front, just 3km to go to the top. Behind them, Cheula and Bonnet are
rocking and rolling up the hill in their small rings now - still trying but
not making ground on the two up front who are out of the saddle.

16:34 CEST Moreau is looking calm near the front
- he's sitting 5th wheel and the Dauphine winner is another good candidate for
a win in Autun.

At the back, Valverde has stopped for some reason,
and it's Pereiro who goes back for him? I guess we know who the real team leader
is now.

16:35 CEST 134.5km/48km to go With 1km to go
to the top, the leaders still have just two minutes and change. Looks like the
explosions in the peloton will wait until the final climb of the day inside
the last 10km.

16:39 CEST 135.5km/47km to go Chavanel takes
the points ahead of Gilbert on the climb, and as the peloton descends into the
department of Nievre they're going from spring into summer - the temperatures
are going up and the race is heating up too.

Cheula took third at
the category two Haut-Folin ahead of Bonnet. There are two more places worth
of points for the peloton.

16:42 CEST 138.5km/44km to go Discovery Channel
took the points ahead of Rabobank on the climb for the last two spots, and while
the break climbed more than a minute slower than the field on the Haut-Folin,
they're opening it back up on the descent. Gilbert is looking a bit quicker
than Chavanel on the descent, but the Cofidis rider gets back on terms.

16:43 CEST Hushovd and Feillu are the only sprinters
off the back right now, but they should be able to make it back to the field
after the downhill.

16:45 CEST 141.5km/41km to go Bonnet and Cheula
are losing ground to Chavanel and Gilbert, who are maintaining their two minute
lead.

It was actually Rasmussen taking the points from the field
ahead of Discovery's Portugese rider Paulinho, so the 'chicken' has taken six
points toward his goal of the final polka dot jersey.

16:47 CEST More sprinters are forming the group
affectionately known as the 'autobus' - it's where the slow riders get together
and work to finish within the time cut, not an actual vehicle.

Bonnet
and Cheula are now caught by the peloton and the chase is strung out single
file as they scream down the hill toward the last intermediate sprint in Bibracte-Monte
Beuvray.

16:48 CEST Sastre has gotten a flat - bad timing
for CSC's GC hopeful, and the CSC boys will leave the front of the peloton now
to go back to get him.

16:49 CEST Gregor Brown is at the finish line
and reports that Tour weather is ON! The CN crew have bought new clothes, but
we will need lighter clothes soon because is getting that HOT.

16:49 CEST Gilbert gets the sprints point ahead
of Chavanel. That is fair, as the Frenchman gets all the mountain points.

16:50 CEST 145.5km/37km to go Carlos Sastre is
all alone back in the team cars - he gets a bottle from the CSC car, but needs
some more help. He's coming up on Sven Krauss who was dropped from the peloton
earlier, and now has Erik Zabel, who had a flat as well, as company.

16:51 CEST 146.5km/36km to go CSC still has two
men with the yellow jersey at the front, while Liquigas sets tempo. Robert Hunter
(Barloworld) sprints ahead to take the last points in the intermediate sprint.

Meanwhile, back at the cars, Zabel is getting four of his team-mates to help
him chase back on. Will he be able to repeat Robbie McEwen's feat of chasing
back then winning the stage?

16:53 CEST 149.5km/33km to go CSC has managed
to get a handful of men to the back to help Sastre, and they're being joined
by the Milram train with Zabel so they all will now work with a common purpose
- getting back into the very quickly moving peloton.

16:54 CEST Robbie Hunter takes the two points
available at the sprint after the two leaders already passed. He has 83 points
now and is three behind Zabel, who could not sprint due to his flat.

Current situation

Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux)

Peloton at 1.57

Hushovd, Feillu, Napolitano, Krauss and others

16:57 CEST 151.5km/31km to go Sastre, his team
and Milram train are behind the Mavic car that trails right behind the peloton
now - in plenty of time. Phew! The category three Côte de la Croix de la Libération
begins at around 170km into the stage, giving them 20km or so breathing room.

The break of Chavanel and Gilbert is holding on - looking strong and only ceding
a few seconds on the descent. They're 1'46 ahead, and Gilbert is waving his
team car forward.

16:59 CEST Liquigas is setting a hard tempo
at the front, and it's not good timing for Philippe Gilbert to get bottles from
his car. He's stuffing his jersey full, expecting to be caught - he'll hand
them off to his team-mates when he they inevitably come past.

17:02 CEST 157.5km/25km to go Gilbert and Chavanel
are really pumping the pedals now - Chavanel is gasping for air in an all-out
effort. The Liquigas man in the bunch is working equally hard, and unfortunately
for our two men he's getting help from CSC.

17:03 CEST 157.5km/25km to go Crash! More bad
luck for Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - he's gone down in a turn!

17:05 CEST 158.5km/24km to go Vino's shorts are
ripped open on the right side, and he was bent over in pain on the side of the
road.

17:06 CEST Seven men are back with Vino, with
Klöden and Kashechkin staying in the peloton... Astana is passing a Predictor-Lotto
rider as they head back toward the bunch.

17:07 CEST 161.5km/21km to go CSC is on the front
again - now it's O'Grady who is putting the hammer down and lining the peloton
out with just over 20km to go.

17:08 CEST 162.5km/20km to go The leaders go
under 20km to go with 1'26 - Gilbert and Chavanel get out of the saddle to power
up a small rise, but they've lost the supple, easy pedal strokes they used earlier
in the stage.

17:08 CEST 163.5km/19km to go Johan Van Summeren
(Predictor - Lotto) is back on the Astana train, but not lending a hand as the
Vinokourov group is 1'05 behind the peloton.

17:10 CEST 164.5km/18km to go The break is coming
back quickly now - 1'12 with 18.5 km and falling fast. Vinokourov is getting
no mercy from CSC who are simply hammering the front of the chasing peloton.

17:12 CEST 166.5km/16km to go The yellow jersey
is sitting 7th wheel as the break comes back to less than one minute under pressure
from Liquigas. Vino's Astana team time trial is actually losing time to the
peloton now - bad news for his GC hopes!

17:13 CEST Like Lance Armstrong said, "every
second counts" and to lose time on a stage like this is very bad.

17:15 CEST 167.5km/15km to go The leaders are
44" ahead, with Vinokourov's group 2'04 behind the leaders. That's 1'20 in arrears
of the peloton and losing ground. Gerolsteiner is back on front as the field
comes through the 15km banner now 34" behind.

17:16 CEST Grégory Rast (Astana) can't take
the chasing any more and gives up contact with his team who is trying to get
Vino and Klodie back on. As the peloton decides who will take control now, they
make up some time and are 1'03 behind the peloton.

17:18 CEST 169.5km/13km to go The real climb
doesn't start for another 1.5km, but the peloton is on a rise. Quinziato is
dropped from the peloton, as is the polka dot jersey of Augé. Astana moves past
the sprinters' autobus which contains several Predictor riders.

The
field can now see the break of two.

17:19 CEST Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) attacks!
He powers off the front and opens up a good gap as he can see the two men ahead
just 14" away.

17:20 CEST 170.5km/12km to go The leaders are
on the final climb now, and the roads are narrow and lined with cars and spectators.
Chavanel gets out of the saddle to keep up the momentum, but this hurts after
150km!

17:20 CEST Wegmann didn't get any daylight between
himself and the peloton, and Rabobank is pulling Rasmussen to the front to go
for the points up ahead.

17:21 CEST 171.5km/11km to go Gilbert is cooked
- and he's caught while Chavanel keeps trying, but is only metres ahead of the
Rabo train.

17:22 CEST 171.5km/11km to go Chavanel is just
tired to hold on, and get's a 'chapeau' as the bunch speeds by.

De
la Fuente attacks!

17:22 CEST 172.5km/10km to go Vino is back behind
the Rabobank car- he has Iglinksy with him and Francisco Ventoso (Saunier Duval)
who is going backwards.

17:35 CEST 181.5km/1km to go Vino's group is
1km behind as the leaders hit the red kite.

17:35 CEST David Millar is the S-D rider in
front!

17:35 CEST Lampre is barreling down behind the
two.

17:35 CEST Euskaltel takes off on the right,
and the uphill sprint starts

17:36 CEST A Liquigas rider starts the sprint
and Zabel comes up on the right!

17:36 CEST Hincpapie is right there, and Rabobank
comes on the right

17:36 CEST But it's Pozatto who takes the stage!

17:37 CEST Vinokourov's group is coming in shattered-
1'18 behind. A big disappointment for Astana.

17:37 CEST 78.94km/h was the reported speed
of that sprint - incredible!

17:38 CEST Pozatto threaded his way through
the sprint like Cipollini used to and came from way behind to take that mad
dash to the line.

17:39 CEST It was Freire in second ahead of
Lampre's Bennati.

17:40 CEST T-Mobile's Kirchin was 4th ahead
of Zabel with a bike throw.

17:42 CEST More groups are rolling through the
finish now, 5' down. With that sprint, Pozatto moves into third overall since
Hushovd was dropped.

17:43 CEST It's another flat stage tomorrow
- another field day for the sprinters. But for today, it's 'Pippo' Pozatto who
gets the accolades, flowers and champagne. He said he'd do it and he followed
through!

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